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Something about a Mamba…oh yeah, it’s AWESOME. It’s candy and when you open it, there is three packages of candy. And then you open that and there is seven pieces of candy inside the wrapper inside THAT wrapper. Just like those Russian dolls, pure beauty.

This Wednesday’s Listing: CANDY

For a bit of change in the middle of the week, I’m declaring LIST DAY. I know, I know, it is often called Hump Day (which often just sounds disgusting) or what many bloggers call Wordless Wednesday. Instead, I want to make it wordier. But with pictures. And be able to satisfy my OCD.

Lists are great. I always carry notepad paper in my purse just for this purpose. When I am expected to take a note or write down an address, I panic. I can’t write on my list paper! This is not bullet-point presentation worthy.

So today, I write about my favorite candies of all time. Halloween is just around the corner and the ultimate, No. 1 best thing about the holiday is the haul of candy.

On top of that list, is the Mamba. Maybe the fact that they named a candy after such a ferocious snake makes it a tad cooler. The absolute real reason for me it is so cool? The wrapping. I mean, Starbursts are great and all, but they have nothing on Mamba candy. It’s much longer (which means more candy), and inside the main wrapper are three wrapped candies. And inside each those wrappers are several wrapped candies. Compartmentalized. Each flavor (the raspberry is the best, BTW) was a bit plastic fruit tasting (which I love). There was only two problems with the candy. First problem is the flavors were separated. So you would have to open them all and destroy the neatness that I so enjoyed. Secondly, if you ate the whole bar in one sitting, you had the worst jaw ache ever.

I always wanted to eat the orange and lemon flavored candy first so that I could savor the raspberry. They were divine.

My childhood summer was spent running between the pool and the library. After we headed for a swim, my cousins and I would hop on our bikes to the Dollar Stretcher in downtown Webster City. For some Lik-M-Aid Fun Dip. After consuming so many of these sugary treats, I still wonder why my teeth aren’t filled with holes. The fact that you could eat the dipping stick was part of the fun. This was not a candy that my mom would ever buy for me, so it was fun being naughty and consuming flavored sugar.

Three flavors for your cavity enjoyment.

The kids on the package are having such fun. So it can’t be that bad for you, right?

Warheads. (I am especially listing this because my brother might be reading.) I enjoyed these? Maybe? The question marks come because older brother Steve kind of forced his will on these. I didn’t want to put one on the tongue, but I didn’t want to be considered a pansy either. Sour doesn’t begin to describe these. Pure torture. Of the good kind. Not to sound ignorant or anything, but I really thought at one time these were produced by the military. No joke. It was somewhat of a torture device.

Sour, sour, sour. That is all.

While gum isn’t always considered a candy, as much as I chewed and swallowed it, it was. We would ride our bikes to the local Fareway and spend a good majority of our allowance money on the different flavors Bubbilicious offered. My favorite was the Tornado. I didn’t mind cotton candy either. I just hated that after 30 seconds of chewing, it was just a grey giant wad of flavorless gum in your mouth. Oh well, you just added another piece to the gigantic piece and kept chewing.

Watermelon and Grape were always safe flavors in the bubblegum arena. And delicious, too.

Other gum of notable reference:

Big League Chew. If your dad was as into baseball as mine, you got a package of this every once and awhile. Which was fine by me. It was shredded and had a very “pink” flavor to it. Way better than the stabbing pain of eating a piece of gum from one of his baseball card packs.

And this:

I always tried to save my bubble tape. Bad decision. It always dried out like jerky after a couple days.

And this:

Because it was SO PRETTY! Too pretty to eat. And the wrappers made such fancy bracelets.

As mentioned before, my dad was really into baseball. So of course, he was on a league and I would always go to the games. One reason: Lollies. I would find a dime, and I had sweetness in my hand. Unfortunately, the chalky candy would be easy to bite into, and alas, your candy was gone.

Memories on a stick.

Favorite parade candy? That is easy. Gotta be the Frooties.

Each Fourth of July, I would decorate a paper bag to fill with these treats. I did not care about any other candy. These were supreme and came in at least 10 different flavors.

Favorite pool candy? Laffy Taffy, duh.

You could buy so many for a dollar. It was the best bang for your buck. Back then, they had vanilla flavored ones. Don’t know if they still do??? They were divine.

My sister Emily had a big hankering for anything in gummy form. Swedish Fish were her main desire. So whenever we stopped at Cub Foods Grocery Store, we always scooped up tons. There were bears, root beer bottles, sour sharks, strawberries, animals, the list would go on and on. We just knew we were in candy heaven.

Always a pretty sight, gummy candy.

For a more “adult” candy treat (if there is such a thing) I will bring you my favorite all-time chocolate bar. The Mars Bar, American-style. I cannot tell you how upset I was after it was discontinued. It was a perfect concoction of caramel and almond. I went to Europe backpacking and found Mars Bars. I was so excited. I picked up no less than five to eat while I was in Ireland. While the European version is delightful, it tastes more like a Milky Way. Not the same. I have heard rumors that the U.S. delight was relaunched in 2010, but I have yet to find it. Until then, I settle for a Snickers with Almonds.

You mean the world to me, you are my everything, I swear the only thing that matters … maybe not that extreme, but I do love a Mars Bar.

I could go on and on about candy. There are so many more to list. Runts, Brach’s individual candies, Jelly Belly’s, Sour Patch Kids, but I don’t have time. I have TV shows on the DVR just shouting my name.

I will leave you with one candy that I can’t decide if I even liked. It would stay in my teeth and the Later part was not my favorite by any means. Happy Candy-ing.

The taste was great. Just chewing was a challenge and cleaning out your teeth was always a problem. It just seemed like more work than they were worth.

We used to walk to the Doc Stop on the west end of Second Street in middle school and buy Warheads. I don’t know why but that always seemed like an adventurous trip, even though it was like 5 blocks from my house… maybe because we had to cross Second Street. They had all of the weird candy there. I used to like the ones that stained your mouth, too. I forget what those were called. My grandparents kept Bubble Yum in one of the kitchen drawers (always grape!) and we had to give one of them a kiss on the cheek to get a piece of gum. It was worth it.

Carrie Olson works on the editorial staff at an entertainment magazine in NYC. She is a former staff writer and columnist (now blogger) for a daily paper in central Iowa. When Carrie drinks too much, she is quite loud and annoying.